1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of cutting torches. More particularly, the invention relates to a technique for enabling a cutting torch to have a cutting oxygen lever that is may be positioned on a plurality of locations of the cutting torch.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cutting torch may be used to produce a flame to cut through a material. A typical torch system utilizes a flammable fuel and oxygen to produce the flame. The torch is supplied with pressurized fuel and oxygen. The typical cutting torch has a first throttle valve to reduce the pressure of the fuel flowing through the torch and a second throttle valve to reduce the pressure of the oxygen flowing through the torch. These two flows are mixed in or immediately after a cutting tip of the torch. This fuel and oxygen mixture is ignited to produce a flame at the cutting tip. This flame is known as the preheat flame and serves to warm the metal to a point just below the melting point of the metal to be cut.
In addition, the typical cutting torch is adapted to direct a flow of high pressure oxygen to the flame, bypassing the second throttle valve. This flow of oxygen is known as cutting oxygen. When the cutting oxygen flows to the flame, the temperature of the flame, and the metal, is taken quickly past the melting point of the metal. In addition, the force of the cutting oxygen carries the products of the cutting flame through the metal, facilitating the melting or even burning of the metal.
A typical cutting torch has a lever that is coupled to a cutting oxygen valve to control the flow of cutting oxygen through the torch. The lever typically is oriented such that the operator may hold the cutting torch and operate the lever with the same hand. Typically, the lever is pivoted towards the handle in a short arcing motion to open the cutting oxygen valve.
For ergonomic reasons, a torch may be designed to position the lever on the top of the torch or on the bottom of the torch. However, current designs utilize different components for each of these orientations of the lever. Thus, the same components cannot be used to assemble a torch with either lever configuration. This increases the overall cost of manufacturing both configurations of cutting torch. In addition, at some point in time a user may desire to reposition the lever from its original position. However, this may be impracticable if additional parts are needed to reposition the cutting oxygen lever on the torch.
There is a need therefore for a torch that enables the cutting oxygen lever to be positioned at different positions on the torch with the same parts. In addition, there is a need for a torch that enables a user to quickly and easily move the cutting oxygen lever from one location to another on the torch. In addition, there is a need for a torch handle with better ergonomic characteristics.